The Others
by PledgeAllegianceToTheStruggle
Summary: Blue and the boys try and figure out where Maura is and what a newly awakened Cabeswater means. Just as one enigmatic Henrietta resident dies, another comes in to fill his place.
1. Chapter 1:New Student

**Chapter 1**

There was a crispness to the morning air that could only mean the start of another school year. Blue 's final high school year at that. The local public school was a strange sense of normalcy for her in the way she could count on the mundane monotony of it all while outside her world was just growing more impossible.

Her mom had disappeared to what they all had assumed was the where Glendower was. Which was as vague as it was worrying. They still didn't know where Neeve was either. There was also Kavinsky's death, which was explained away by local police as a firework accident. Everything that was witnessed at the 4th of July party was written off as a bad trip from whatever drug Kavinsky was dealing out that night. No one; however, was quite able to explain why there were massive claw marks on the cars.

Normal was just what she needed right now, which was why she was slightly surprised to see a large congregation of students gathered around a car in the parking lot of the school.

"Is MacArthur going through a mid-life crisis? '

"I don't know man, who the hell could afford this car on a teacher's salary? "

"Maybe it's a new student ..."

"This isn't Aligonby dumbass. "

Blue heard bits and pieces of the speculation surrounding the car as she coasted up to the building . From what she could see when she craned her neck it was black, vintage and shiny. She parked her bike on the rack and hurried to her first class.

"Everyone we have a new student joining us this year all the way from the Garden State. I hope you all show Ms. Rodriguez Henrietta 's famous hospitality. "She paused as she allowed everyone to turn around and gawk at the new comer in the back corner.

"Is there anything you'd like to share about yourself Samantha? "

"It's Sam, and I prefer Rodriguez. You call me anything else I won't dignify a response. "

The teacher, though slightly flustered, recovered quickly as she segwayed into her lesson plan.

" This semester we'll be learning about European History and it's never too early to have AP exams in mind..."

Blue was already losing focus and it was only first period, her gaze shifted to the right of her as she took in the new student. It wasn't completely unheard of for someone to transfer in senior year, but it was unusual. She was both James Dean and at once. Her plain white t-shirt and jeans coupled with her timberlands and aviators clashed with her obvious Hispanic features. It was as if she was trying as hard as she could to downplay her sex appeal. Or maybe she didn't care either way, Blue thought recalling her rather abrasive introduction.

Blue must have been staring because she had caught Sam's attention halfway across the room. She slid the aviators on top of her head and leaned over and smiled in Blue's direction. It was a infectious one of the Gansey variety and Blue rather awkwardly smiled back and tried to regain her attention to an obscure European monarch.

The last bell rang and Bell was already dreading the extra shift she had agreed to pick up at Nino's. She also remembered that the boys were supposed to stop by sometime during her first shift, so she didn't hear an unfamiliar voice calling her name through the chaos of the end of the day.

"Blue...Blue!...BLUUUUEEE!"

Blue was shook from her afternoon plans by the new student pushing her way through the crowd of student to get to her side.

"That is your name right? I was getting worried since you weren't responding" Sam laughed as she slid her aviators back down onto her nose. Her caramel hair fell into her face without the support of the glasses.

"I noticed we have a lot of classes together."

Blue also noticed. Every. Single. Class. Coincidence, she told herself, because it wasn't.

An arm easily swung around her shoulder and Sam got too close, Blue flinched.

" I was hoping you could show me around town sometime, I just moved her less than a week ago." she breathed into Blue's ear. Suddenly she felt more relaxed, and her no touching rule no longer applied.

"Oh, I'm actually supposed to be at work in fifteen minutes. Otherwise I'd be happy to show you all of Henrietta's varied offerings. And by varied I mean Main Street."

Sam let out an easy laugh that made her feel like they were old friends.

" That is a shame then. Tell you what, is that your bike?" Pointing to the rack Blue was directing them towards.

"Throw it in my trunk and I'll drive you to work, that way you can tell me about all this famous hospitality I've been hearing about."

Blue stopped in front of the car in disbelief. Sam was already opening the trunk.

" Just come round back and toss it in. Something wrong?" She said when she realized that Blue was just staring at her car.

" Isn't she the most beautiful thing you've ever seen?" There was a warmth in her voice that Gansey used when he talked about Pig. Blue had assumed this was just a guy thing, which apparently it was not.

" It's one of those classic cars right?"

Sam's fist banged her chest.

"Blue you're killing me, how do you not know what this car is? I'll let it slide this time. 1967 Chevy Impala. It runs as good as it looks, and it looks like sex on wheels." She winked at her as they pulled out of the school parking lot. Blue wasn't so sure about that, it reminded her a lot of the Pig in terms of how loud it was, but it was sleek and had a understating power to it, where the Pig was loud and proud and borderline obnoxious.

Adam had work, and Noah was MIA at the moment, so it was just Gansey and Ronan who made the trip up to Nino's to confer with Blue about what their game plan was going to be next.

Gansey let the Pig rumble to silence and left the keys in the ignition. Ronan knew what was coming, and he wasn't going to have any of it.

" I think we should talk about Kavinsky." In a tone that was loaded with meaning.

" We'll we aren't. Not now, not ever. He's dead so what's the difference?" His hand was making a move for the door handle.

" You guys were closer then you let on, it has to be a little difficult he's not around anymore, if only for the fact that there's no one to join in on your illegal night activities."

"Oh I'm not so sure about that." Ronan smirked as Gansey followed his gaze to the black Impala that just pulled into Nino's.

Gansey frowned. "That's weird, Algionby tends to favor flashy imports rather than classics."

"Must be a new guy, trying to show..." Ronan stopped. He was at a loss for words, which was rare.

"What the fuck is a chick doing driving a car like that! What the hell is Blue doing with her too, I thought you said she doesn't really hang out with anyone from school?"

"I thought so too..." Gansey trailed off as he watched the girl in the skinny jeans head to the door with Blue.

"You're unbelievable man, I'll give you a few minutes to jerk off before we head in." Ronan was already pulling himself out of the car as he continued to laugh at Gansey's expense.

His face felt hot once he was snapped out of his daydream.

"Don't be a dick dude."

" Can't say I blame you though man, she's got more curves then your Camaro. She's a little too ghetto fabulous though, for my taste."

"If you get your balls handed to you tonight Lynch, I'm not bailing you out."


	2. Chapter 2: Nino's

Chapter 2

Blue wished more than anything Noah was here. He had a calming and diplomatic presence that Ronan listened to a little less than half the time. Instead she had Algionby wine mixing with public school water. Blue knew Ronan and Gansey both could be cruel in their own ways, at least if Adam was there the playing field would be more level.

But he nor Noah were, she sighed as she saw Gansey's well-manicured head followed by the buzz cut that was Ronan.

Sam was slouched against the wall of the back booth, facing Blue as she looked toward the door.

"My friends are here."

Blue had spent most of the car ride there talking about herself, something she wasn't really used to do hanging out with the boys and the adventure that surrounded them. It seemed to her Sam was playing an unofficial game of 21 questions with her and Blue was alright with the conversation revolving around her for a change. She didn't even get a chance to mention the boys at all, much less prepare Sam for what could be an oncoming assault. Blue may have grown to love the boys, but the memory of the first night they met in Nino's was still fresh in her mind. They all could be ruthless in their own way.

"Just wait here a sec, you don't mind sitting with them right? They mean well, for Algionby boys anyway."

"Not at all, go ahead I'd love to meet some of your friends." She gave a little wave of her hand to gently shoo Blue away.

Gansey and Ronan were loitering by the door waiting to be seated when they caught sight of Blue.

"Jane! How is our favorite waitress doing?" Gansey beamed.

Ronan just pointed a finger to the back booth and stated, "Someone is sitting at our table."

He sounded neither concerned nor hostile, like someone reading off the morning announcements.

"Ah, yea about that. That's Sam. She's a new girl that just moved here about a week ago. She doesn't know anyone really yet, so I figured we could make her feel more welcome."

"We?" Ronan shot out.

"Female interaction won't kill you, Ronan."

"How do you know? I've yet to hang out with one, and I don't see anything here worth breaking that record." He smirked and started to head back towards the door.

She pleaded as she looked at Gansey for his approval.

"Ronan, wait. Let's just humor Blue for a little while. We should wait for everyone anyway to start planning anything concrete. Let's just get some lunch."

Ronan's obvious eye roll was not the best indicator of agreement, but he did keep his mouth shut on his way to the table.

"Just please be nice you guys."

" I'm always a fucking gentleman."

Ronan unceremoniously threw himself into the far side of the booth and Gansey took the outside spot.

"It's very nice to meet a school friend of Blue's, my name's Gansey and that's-"

"Ronan Lynch." Sam finished for him. She wasn't looking at Gansey at all, but was just staring at Ronan as he played with his straw wrapper. Gansey at this point; however, was rather awkwardly holding his hand out for a handshake.

"Oh, so you know each other?" He offered as he tried to recover from his failed handshake attempt by fiddling with his cup.

"Just who the hell are you?" Ronan looked up and his mouth was set, ready to bare fangs.

Just once, just this once, Blue wished having a conversation with Ronan wasn't an exercise in trying to disarm a nuclear weapon.

Sam readjusted herself on the bench, leaned forward and smiled icily to match his venom.

"I was expecting you to be better looking, but that tattoo of yours was a dead giveaway, you had to be Ronan Lynch. Your lack of social graces only confirms this." She leaned back against the booth and swung her arm across the back ledge.

"I won't ask again. Who the fuck are you?" He narrowed his eyes even more and Blue half expected him to stick out a pronged tongue.

"You don't know who I am?" She raised an eyebrow at him. "Well I guess I shouldn't be all that surprised, Kavinsky never really said you guys were that close."

At the mention of Kavinsky both Gansey and Blue raised their eyebrows in unison. Ronan was still silently fuming in his attack position.

" My name is Sam Rodriguez. I knew Kavinsky back when he was still living in Jersey. We went to school together and I guess you could say we were rather friendly." From the smirk that crossed her mouth, Blue assumed that 'friendly' was open to some interpretation.

Ronan looked like he was about to be ill, he was equal parts confused and angry.

" Rodriguez. Yea, he might have mentioned you. Doesn't explain why the hell you decided to come to bumble fuck, you're about 2 months too late for the funeral."

Blue and Gansey were beginning to feel like they were watching a spectator sport. Gansey turned to Blue with a look that asked, did you know? Blue just shook her head in response.

" Kavinsky was always going to burn out in a blaze of glory on his own terms. I've got to proverbially tip my hat to the bastard." She looked out past Blue to the rest of Nino's let a melancholy smile rest on her face.

"I'm here because I know what Kavinsky was. I know what you are. And you're going to need my help."


	3. Chapter 3: Nino's II

Chapter 3

"Bullshit. You don't know shit about me, so shut your trap."

Ronan was at his breaking point, if Gansey wasn't blocking his exit he would have already left.

"Dude, we're leaving."

He began sliding towards Gansey to usher him out of the booth.

"Bottom."

Sam was smiling like she had a secret she wanted to tell.

"What in God awful fuck are you talking about now, you stupid bitch."

"Ronan, not here." Gansey warned as he put a hand on his shoulder.

"You know, Kavinsky always thought that you were a top but I gotta say I have to disagree with that assessment. Look at the how well you obey commands. Heel boy." The last part she mockingly imitated Gansey's accent which came out more drunk Coronel Sanders then old money south.

Something in Ronan snapped. He had never hit a girl before, never even thought about hitting one, but this was different somehow. Every fiber of his being wanted to smack the stupid grin off her face. He managed to exercise enough restraint that instead of lunging to punch her, he settled for grabbing a handful of her t-shirt and yanked her across the table.

"Shut your fucking mouth, before I break your jaw." He growled into her face. Blue was too shocked to have much of any reaction beyond thinking they either looked like they were about to make out or bite each other's faces off.

Unfazed, and still grinning her impish smile, Sam gently placed a hand on Ronan's to loosen his grip on her shirt.

The feeling that Ronan felt next was hard to describe. He suddenly couldn't remember why he was angry, and a gentle calm flooded to replace it. It was like coming home to the Barns.

"Now is that any way to treat a lady?" Sam smoothed out her shirt and resumed her easy slouch position against the bench.

Ronan sat in a stupor, still halfway leaning over the table where Sam had been released from his grip. What the hell just happened?

"I think that's enough of an introduction for now." She then turned her attention to Blue as she slid out from the booth and beamed, "Thanks for the sweet tea, I'll see you tomorrow in class."

With a gentle pat on Blue's shoulder she flicked the aviators down on her face and sauntered toward the exit with one hand in her pocket and the other gave a nonchalant wave of goodbye.

"So that's Sam…" Blue said, still looking at the exit. She turned her attention back to table, and Gansey was staring at Ronan, who was still looking rather slack jawed.

"Ronan, are you ok?" He put a hand on his shoulder and shook him gently hoping to regain his attention.

"Yea…I think so."

He seemed to be slowly coming back to the conversation, like he had been asleep this whole time.

Gansey looked back to Blue.

"I don't think I have to tell you, but we need to find out exactly what and how she knows about Kavinsky and Ronan."

Blue knew he was right. There was a knot forming in her stomach now. Just how many people knew about the things related Cabeswater?


	4. Chapter 4: Funeral

Gansey had gone with him to the funeral, even though Ronan hadn't asked him to. He didn't tell anyone where he was planning on going, but Gansey had slipped into the BMW none the less and asked him, "Are you sure you want to do this?"

"No. But I don't want to regret not going either."

Gansey looked a moment longer at Ronan before leaning back in the seat.

"Fair enough."

Ronan had decided several days ago that he was only going to the burial service. He had done the same for his father, to truly see the last moment he would have on earth. Both his father and Kavinsky had to have closed caskets anyway, so it made the most sense to him to do it this way. He wanted to preserve their memory the way he remembered them best, not tainted with the smell of heavy perfume and tears.

He hadn't quite prepared himself for Kavinsky's burial though, he was a mixed bag of feelings.

"Are you sure we're in the right spot? I don't see anyone."

They had pulled into the St. Agnes back parking lot. Gansey was peering his head out the window to try and look past the trees to the clearing that was the cemetery.

"Yea, I'm sure of it. Let's just get this over with."

He turned the key in the ignition and the BMW was still and silent, unlike Ronan's mind. He looked at his hand and saw the bands that Kavinsky had given him.

"Goddamn that son of a bitch."

Ronan threw open the car door. Gansey stayed quiet as they both walked through the trees to the back of the cemetery. They could now see a small group of people not far up ahead. By the looks of the machinery, the casket had already been lowered down into the grave. There was a priest reading scriptures to himself and the operator of the crane, because Ronan saw that Mrs. Kavinsky was long gone.

There was no one else in attendance.

Ronan knew that Kavinsky didn't have many close friends. But he never realized that his entire inner circle were all dream creatures. Along with Propokenpo, there were three other people who fell into comas that night. He now understood why dreaming was so much more appealing than reality to Kavinsky. He was truly alone.

Ronan and Gansey had walked up to the gravesite with little notice, the priest had done little more than nod approvingly in Ronan's direction. Kavinsky's mother was looking straight ahead, no tears in her eyes, no expression on her face. She was as dead as her son, though she had been dying for a lot longer. He also noted, that his father was not in attendance. The bastard couldn't even manage to show up for his own son's funeral. Ronan remembered Kavinsky's story about how he had tried to kill him. He tried to imagine what that had to feel like, your own father hating you so much he wanted you dead. Adam popped into his head.

"Would anyone like to say a few words?" The priest paused for a moment then went right into a passage from Romans.

"For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Ronan disliked the irony of the passage about love juxtaposed against the life of Kavinsky's.

Kavinsky's mother did not acknowledge Ronan nor Gansey when she shuffled in her heels back to the parking lot as the top loader began to shovel dirt into the grave.

Ronan pulled off the bands from his writs and drop them into the grave.

"See you in the streets."

When Ronan couldn't sleep he sometimes came up to the cemetery and visited Kavinsky's grave. He could never tell Gansey, he would never really understand. The only person who knew was Noah, who sat in the car with him of the St. Agnes parking lot that night.

"I'm sorry, Ronan."

"Me too."

Noah would stay behind or completely disappear at that point. To go with Ronan would be far too intimate because not only was he visiting Kavinsky's grave, but the parts of himself he kept a secret.

No one had placed any personal effects or flowers at the tombstone that Ronan knew of. On his visit tonight though, for the first time since he was buried there was a pair of white sunglasses and a small bottle of Russian vodka that he had seen Kavinsky drink a lot of.

Ronan punched the tombstone as hard as he could.

There was one other person who did know of Ronan's visits. When it was especially warm out, Adam sometimes sat at his window and looked out at night and dreamt of a world outside Henrietta. He also could see Ronan's car from his apartment window. Though he would never mention it to Ronan, he knew exactly why he made his visits to the cemetery.


	5. Chapter 5: Under the Bleachers

Chapter 5

Blue had thought long and hard about how she was going to confront Sam about Ronan. With all the classes they shared it would be easy to pass notes. There was a higher likelihood of success that way. Blue was not Gansey, she did not have his powers of persuasion, nor his charm.

But Sam wasn't in her first period class, or her second period either. What was also odd was how none of the teachers seemed all that bothered by her absence. Blue had seen her car in the lot this morning since it was hard to miss, so when lunchtime hit Blue went to investigate the school grounds to see where she might be.

Students weren't technically allowed to be loitering on the grounds outside of P.E class, but Blue knew that was merely a suggestion to the slightly more rebellious members of the student body. If Sam was friends with Kavinsky, she most likely fell in this group.

The first place that she thought to look was under the bleachers, since that's where a lot of students went to smoke and make out during free periods. Sure enough Blue saw a white t-shirt and golden aviators, which had to be Sam.

"Hey, Sam…." She began to call out but stopped abruptly once she realized what was going on.

Sam, rather startled, pulled off a blond cheerleader from her mouth and in the process her glasses fell to the grass.

"Manda huevos! Blue, what the hell are you doing, you scared the shit out of me." Sam quickly recovered and pulled a more even tempered look on her face.

One of the first things that Blue had noticed about Sam was the fact that she had no discernable accent. Her speech gave no indication to her origin, unlike herself or the other boys, you could hear the southern drawl in Blue and Adam and the money dripping in Ronan and Gansey. It was clear that Blue had caught her off balance because there was a very pronounced Hispanic cadence that she let slip out.

Blue didn't immediately respond, but looked past Sam to the cheerleader, who had a rather glazed look to her eyes but was quite content to carry on with whatever she and Sam had been doing since she began wrapping her arms around Sam's waist to pull her back to her.

"Sorry for interrupting…" Blue still in a state of shock, turned to walk, make that jog, to the main building.

"Blue wait!"

Sam, now rather disdainful of her make out partner, grabbed the girl's arm and told her to get back to class. Blue watched as the girl walked past her and turned and blew a kiss at Sam. Sam rolled her eyes in return and bent down to retrieve her glasses.

"Your second day and you're already making friends I see."

Sam searched Blue's face for meaning. For some reason it came out more hostile then Blue intended.

Sam sighed and pulled a cigarette out from a pack in her pocket. With the cigarette hanging from her mouth she offered one to Blue.

"I don't smoke, and neither should you. If a teacher sees you, you're going to be spending your Saturday morning in detention."

"Well," Sam looked at the inside of her wrist to check the time, "it looks like we're both going to since Chem just started."

"Ughhh, come on, if we head back now, maybe we can just take a late."

Sam settled herself against one of the beams from the bleachers and took a long drag from her cigarette.

"Naw, there's no point in going now. If we don't bother showing up, Stevens probably won't even notice. Besides, you wanted to ask me something anyway, now seems like the perfect time."

Blue immediately thought back to how she came across Sam and felt her face warming.

"It's not that I have a problem with that kind of thing. It's totally cool if you're into that. I just don't think spending half the day under the bleachers with the head cheerleader is the best idea. Someone is going to notice. Like me..."

Sam raised her eyebrows and laughed at Blue's obvious awkwardness.

"And exactly what kind of _thing_ are you talking about?"

"You know…you were making out with a girl…you're obviously gay. I mean a lesbian."

Sam furrowed her brows. Then she look another long drag.

"Yea…you caught me off guard before. I'd appreciate it if you didn't tell anyone about this. This is the South, so I'm sure not everyone is as progressive as you are."

"Of course. Not a soul. I've heard you shouldn't out people until they're ready."

"Right….so anyway, why did you come out here, unless voyeurism is a hobby of yours?"

Blue turned red. This wasn't how she had planned this discussion.

"No, it's not. And for your information you were pretty much out in the open. Anyone could have seen."

Sam blew smoke in Blue's direction.

"Ease up. I'm just messing with you." She smiled as she teasingly blew smoke in Blue's direction.

"You obviously want to know how I know about Lynch right?"

"Yea…and Kavinsky too."

"Well, like I said I went to school with Kavinsky. We were pretty close friends; our fathers were business partners. I'm sure I don't have to tell you, when you're that close to someone, something that big is hard to hide, you know? You knew about Ronan, right? Kavinsky was pretty cavalier about it too so it's not like he went out of his way to cover it up."

It did make a lot of sense. Blue had assumed there had to be an intricate story behind all this, but really when she thought about it, Kavinsky was so reckless that this made the most sense. He wasn't careful like Ronan had been about keeping it a secret so it's no surprise people found out.

"Oh so that's it."

"Don't looks so disappointed. There is something though that you guys should know. I don't know if Kavinsky ever told Lynch about the real story behind his father, but a lot more people know about Glendower and people like Kavinsky. They were the one's that tried to get his father to hand him over because they thought he would lead them to Glendower. Kavinsky, as I'm sure you know, doesn't do anything he doesn't want to do. So that didn't quite turn out as well as everyone involved would have hoped."

Blue thought about the Gray Man. He had been after Ronan, was he and his employer the same ones who had also gone after Kavinsky? It was possible. Blue hoped that it was, because there was already too many nefarious people involved and too many casualties. She thought about how her mom and Neeve were still missing, how broken Adam was, how Noah and Kavinsky were dead. And for what, some dead Whelsh king?

"You alright? You look like someone just killed your puppy." Sam flicked her cigarette on the ground and stamped it out.

Blue brought her thoughts back to the conversation.

"Are you free after school? I think the others would want to hear what you have to say."

They both began walking to the main building as the bell ending class rang.

"For you Blue," she swung her arm around her shoulder and smiled, "anything."


	6. Chapter 6: Declan Lynch

A/N: I had a hard time trying to figure out just what grade Ronan and Declan were in and exactly how far apart they are. It does say that Declan is a year older then Ronan, but that doesn't necessarily mean they are exactly a year apart. The reason I say this is because Declan is shown to be still boarding at Aglionby during the summer, which leads me to believe he didn't graduate (why else would he be still living in the dorms?) but instead is going into his senior year along with Ronan.

Chapter 6

Matthew had ended up telling him.

Mom's awake.

That's all the text said because that's all it needed to say. Declan was only mildly surprised, he figured Ronan would be able to figure out a way if it was indeed possible to save their mother.

He didn't respond to Matthew's text.

Instead he breathed deeply and refocused his attention on a blonde that very obviously wasn't Ashley. Her name was Amber…or wait was it Anna? They all blurred together because they all never mattered.

For formalities sake, Ashely held the title of 'the girlfriend' since obviously running around with every blonde in town would be rather unseemly. Declan cared about his image as much as Ronan did not.

What was it about blondes that he found so appealing? There was probably a Freudian reason lurking in there, the kind that says someone wasn't loved enough by their mother. This was probably partly true. It really had more to do with how Declan wanted to achieve what his father could not, to attain the kind of remarkable woman that Niall had to dream into existence. He wanted to show he was a better man then his father.

That is what Declan told himself. It also happened to be a lie. It was the same kind of lie that he told when he continually told himself he was wiping his hands of Ronan.

Everyone liked Declan Lynch, but he was loved by no one. That was the truth that he kept buried deep inside, covered up with lies he told to himself.

Ronan had Gansey.

Matthew had their mother.

Declan had 23 blonde lies that circulated through his dorm room.

He was talking to number 24 right now.

Declan may have been a liar and a player, but at least he was no scoundrel. He was not Niall Lynch.

While Matthew was blissfully ignorant, and Ronan blindingly enamored with him, Declan was the only one who saw Niall Lynch for what he really was. A liar can always see a lie. Niall had known this and acted accordingly. He bestowed his favor on his favorite, Ronan, and Declan was left with cold cordiality from his father. With Ronan he came alive, with Declan he merely went through the motions of fatherhood.

And yet Niall had left him to be the enactor of his will. This had at first puzzled Declan, but upon further reflection he realized that Niall knew that Declan would follow the will religiously because it was for the benefit of his brothers. As a liar himself, Niall could always spot a lie when he saw one.

This is why he knew that Declan didn't hate Ronan.


	7. Chapter 7: A Business Proposal

A/N: So apparently I was wrong about Declan being in the same grade as Ronan….

**Chapter 7**

A good lie always had a foundation based in truth. That's what made people believe them. But the best lies tended to be truths that people were led to believe were a lie.

Sam was the best of liars.

The first lie Sam had told was to Blue.

Sam had gotten to Henrietta shortly after Kavinsky had died. It was not uncommon to go for several days without hearing from him, but he had always responded to her texts with things like 'Calm your tits, dude'. When she couldn't get a hold of Prokopenko either, that's when she knew something was wrong and drove over 500 miles from New York City to his mother's house.

Sam and Kavinsky were like two ends of a rubber band, no matter how far apart you pulled, they always snapped back, albeit in a violent and painful manner. Sam didn't need much convincing to visit.

Hey grandma, dust off your antique and come down and race.

Yo Rodriguez I got this new shit you'd like. Don't worry your septum won't cave this time I fixed it.

The fourth is coming up, you know what that means. I better see you there.

Which was as close as a 'I miss you ' that was ever going to come out of Kavinsky's mouth.

Sam was to Kavinsky as Ronan was to Gansey.

One could then imagine how she felt when she pushed play on the voicemail of Kavinsky's house phone and heard an Officer Jones regretfully inform Mrs. Kavinsky that her son was involved in a serious fireworks accident and didn't make it.

Sam had made the necessary phone calls and arrangements for the funeral and the burial. She took the coke away from Mrs. Kavinsky long enough so she could dress her in somewhat respectable clothing, there was very little in her wardrobe that didn't show off the aftermarket parts, and drove her to the service. She also conveniently managed to organize his affairs so Kavinsky's father would not be contacted. Which was the best for everyone.

Sam then decided to stay a little while in Henrietta. That was when she found out about Declan.

Sam became a liar by a breeding of circumstances; Declan had inherited it.

So it only made sense that Sam would make a partnership of sorts with Declan. Or at least that was what she going to try to do.

She knew enough about Ronan already to be able to track him down. Always at a distance and never in the Impala; she observed him long enough to run across his brother. Declan was interesting to Sam because as much as it looked like he outwardly hated Ronan, it was rather clear that he loved him in a most painful manner. Perhaps it was being an outsider that allowed her to see this or perhaps she knew that look from experience. Maybe it was both.

One day she decided to pay a visit to Declan's dorm room.

Declan went to put the key in the lock of his dorm room but found someone had already unlocked it.

His thoughts immediately went back to his encounter with the Gray Man. His gun was all the way in the Volvo. He contemplated going back for it, but instead felt around for his switch blade he kept on himself since the incident. He slowly opened the door and had his right hand poised for attack.

He found a rather unthreatening looking girl lounging on his bed. She gave him a look like she was expecting him. She took her hands from behind her head and gave a mocking wave. Under normal circumstances he wouldn't mind finding a girl in his bed. This girl was far from his type though. He noticed her timberlands were still on and probably getting dirt all over his sheets.

"You look lost. The border is about a thousand miles from here."

Declan looked icy as ever as he snapped the insult at her.

Sam was unimpressed.

"Like I haven't heard that one before white boy. You lack originality," and with a wave of her hand to showcase his room, "in all aspects it seems."

Declan felt the kind of anger usually reserved for Ronan beginning to rise up.

"What the hell are you doing in my room?"

Declan took on his totalitarian posture. It was like Gansey's on steroids, his posture was more JFK, Declan was Stalin.

"I'm here to talk to you of course."

She put herself upright on the edge of the bed.

Declan was still standing in the doorway.

"You should probably close the door for this conversation."

Declan pushed the door shut with his right hand, never taking his gaze off Sam.

"So what the hell do you want?"

"I'd like to propose a business arrangement with you."

Declan's jaw clenched.

"You're wasting my fucking time, get the hell out of here before I call campus security."

"I know all about your family, Declan. I know Daddy was a prick who let his greed get the best of him, and Ronan, who does exactly the opposite of what you ask, is very close to following in his father's footsteps. Then there's baby brother Matthew who is so clueless, he even gave me your room number."

Sam was now sporting a cheshire grin.

Mentioning Matthew unnerved Declan, his face broke a little.

"Who do you work for? You still haven't said what you even want."

"I consider myself an independent contractor. A mercenary of sorts. What I want from you is to defer your enrollment at Georgetown and stay in Henrietta. It would be easy for you to do that, with a simple letter explaining the circumstances with your mother, so don't go giving me excuses. I want you to work for the local House member and feed me information when I require it."

Declan thought for a moment considering what she said. It was true it would be easy for him to defer enrollment for a semester or a year if he had too, he actually had been considering doing just that given the trouble that Ronan seemed to be attracting. He could also keep a better eye on their mother, so this was rather beneficial for him as well.

"So what do I get out of you though?"

"Protection. Though Ronan will be my priority, I am only one person after all and I assume you are perfectly capable of handling yourself."

"You're shitting me right? You're five foot nothing, stop wasting my time."

Declan's stepped over to his bed to remove the intruder.

As Declan made the move to grab her arm, Sam instead grabbed his and pulled him down as she kneed him in the nether regions. She then knocked his legs from under him and pinned him face down on the ground. She held his head down by grabbing a large portion of his hair. Declan began to utilize all the female swear words in his vocabulary.

"Don't underestimate me, boy. As your balls already know, I'm more then qualified. You're going to accept this proposition, and never speak about it to any of your brothers. You do not know me, I do not know you. Do you understand?"

Declan managed to find one more profanity to throw at her. Sam threw his face into the hardwood floor.

"I understand alright. Now can you get the fuck off me now?"

Sam pulled herself off of Declan and made her way to the door. Declan sat up and tested his nose to see if it was broken or bleeding.

Without looking back to him, Sam gave one of her nonchalant waves and said "It was a pleasure meeting you, Declan."

Declan reached around for his phone. He sent a text to Matthew.

How many times have I told you not to talk to strangers.

His phone lit up and buzzed with Mathew's response.

There's no such thing as strangers in Henrietta, Declan :)

He rested his head against the bed closed his eyes and sighed.


End file.
